Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates to an engineering method and an establishing system.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-080914, filed Apr. 10, 2014, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Description of Related Art
In a plant and a factory, so as to implement an advanced and secure automatic operation, various types of systems (engineering systems) such as a DCS (Distributed Control System) and an SIS (Safety Instrument System) are installed. A client (for example, a contractee), an engineering company (for example, a contractor), and a third vendor (a third party) have a meeting thoroughly and inspect the engineering system in the presence of them from an early phase of a system establishment to when the system establishment is completed. This makes the engineering systems be established.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 11, the engineering system is established through three phases described below. FIG. 11 is a drawing illustrating the phases performed for establishing the engineering system.
(1) FEED (Front End Engineering Design) Phase
In a feed phase, the client, the engineering company, and the third vendor examine technical problems, estimated costs, and so on while keeping close contacts with each other, so as not to be changed significantly in an engineering phase which is next to the feed phase. In the feed phase, it is usually the case that the client always stays in the engineering company and the various types of examination described above are conducted.
(2) Engineering Phase
In an engineering phase, a basic design (BD) and a detailed design (DD) are conducted, hardware is ordered, software is programed, and an operation test (Internal Test: IT) is conducted. In the engineering phase, it is often the case that the client checks. Also, in the engineering phase, the concerned parties (the client, the engineering company, and the third vendor) get together in one place, and a factory acceptance test (FAT) for inspecting software and hardware in the presence of the concerned parties is conducted.
(3) Site Activity Phase
In a site activity phase, the concerned parties get together in an actual plant, and a site acceptance test (SAT) for testing an operation of the engineering system installed in the plant is conducted. Thereafter, a performance inspection (Commissioning) is conducted. In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-74240, an example of a method for implementing a conventional instrumentation engineering system is disclosed.
Conventionally, the concerned parties basically get together in one place so as to conduct the meeting and the inspection in the presence of the concerned parties. In a case where the concerned parties cannot get together in one place, they exchange messages and files by e-mail and a FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server so as to communicate with each other. Recently, it is often the case that they communicate with each other by using a remote access (a technology for connecting to a computer from outside and operating the computer), for example, by accessing a computer in the engineering company.
However, the conventional method described above has problems described below with respect to each phases.
(1) Feed Phase                Because there is a need to have thorough meetings, engineers are required to work for a long time.        Computers and network environments for inspecting the system are needed.        
(2) Engineering Phase                There is a need for the concerned parties to get together in one place, and much travel expenses and much traveling time are needed.        An additional system for testing is needed until a target system is completed.        A large space for staging is needed when the inspection is conducted in the presence of the concerned parties.        In a case of using the remote access, there is a possibility of getting a malware and being hacked. Also, because the display of the computer is occupied, it is difficult to know the operation from outside, and the response is slow.        A test of communicating with the third vendor cannot be conducted.        
(3) Site Activity Phase                Skilled engineers have been held for a long time.        Long time is needed to understand a situation of field site.        